


The Morning Light Casts Shadows Still

by faithtrustozdust



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, also rose is a senator which feels important to mention, also titled my descent into reylo maddness, light connix/rose, light finnpoe, the thesis statement is give ben friends so there's that to look forward to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithtrustozdust/pseuds/faithtrustozdust
Summary: I said I love you, isn’t that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?orThere's a mission to Naboo, political meetings to be had and rogue Sith to be hunted. Rey has missed her friends more than she could describe, but none more then Ben Solo. Imagine her surprise then when he turns up in her bedroom one night very much alive. Imagine how the rest of her friends feel when they have to take him with them.orBen and Rey journey to Naboo with Rey's friends, thinking they are on a Senate sanctioned mission. Instead they discover each other's past, and how they are forever tied in each other's future.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	The Morning Light Casts Shadows Still

**Author's Note:**

> My Google doc for this work is titled "My descent into Reylo madness" which feels fiiting. In about a month I've gone from someone who wouldn't watch TROS because of the Reylo kiss, to someone publishing fic about them and who cries about Ben Solo on the regular. So, a big shout out to the Skytalkers podcast, who made me fall in love with Reylo, and have kept me company through my earbuds throughout quarantine. If either of them ever read this I may ascend into a separate plane of existence.

It was six months since Rey had left the resistance, six months since she discovered who her grandfather was, and six months since Ben Solo died in her arms.

Three of the months she spent tracking down Ben’s lightsaber. The only reason it took her that long was the Ewoks had come to her asking for her help getting rid of some poachers that had taken up residence on their moon. 

Two of the months she spent in the grasslands of Kef Bir making her lightsaber. She had gathered the pieces needed as she searched for Ben’s saber. She knew, knew as soon as she had decided she was going to make her own lightsaber, she wanted to use Ben’s crystal. It felt important to carry him with her like that, though if you asked her why Rey wouldn’t be able to form a cohesive sentence about it to save her life.

There was something about dismantling his saber in her small makeshift hut that hit a nerve. The thin metal pieces of it fell away easily, and she knew enough to know it was shoddily constructed, made quickly and probably under a great deal of stress. The crystal was nestled inside, flickering like a candle in a dark cave.

When she took it out of its shell and held it in her hands, it felt more like a heart than a stone, beating along with the sound of the rain hitting the rooftop. She couldn’t stop looking at it, it felt so much like Ben it made her heart ache with the memory of him. It was still unstable, and it crackled with a raw volatile energy she knew would need time to heal. 

Still, it was a fragile thing, it felt like if she moved too quickly or breathed too hard on it it would shatter in her hands.

The healing process required her meditating on it for the rest of the month. Darkness clung to it like a plague, but at the end of it, in her hands she held a yellow crystal, beautiful and strong, with both of their memories wrapped inside. 

The next month she spent wandering the deserts of Tatooine. After the battle on Exegol, she had taken Luke and Leia’s lightsabers with her in Luke’s X Wing she was traveling in. It felt wrong to tuck them in some dusty box somewhere, and worse to keep them with her. Their force ghosts remained annoyingly silent on the matter. The only time she had seen them at all was when Leia had appeared to her when Rey had been building her hut on Kef Bir. 

“Nice hair.” Leia had quipped. The voice made Rey jump in the air, nearly causing her roof to fall off her hastily constructed walls. 

“Leia!” She squeaked, scrambling to hold her roof in place and get it to stay. 

The damn ghost laughed at her, leaning with one arm propped on the stump of a tree.

“Not that I’m not pleased to see you,” Rey said, she had been wondering if Leia would appear to her when she heard her old master had faded away. “but I’m having a bit of an issue right now.”

“So I’ve heard.” Ghost leia said with a smirk. “Don’t mind me then, the force ghost of your former mentor here to give my spiritual wisdom. Another time then?”

“Wait, no!” Rey yelled, trying to move closer over to her, but the roof had started to slip again and she was losing her footing in the mud as she struggled to catch it and then Leia was gone. 

There weren’t any other visits from force ghosts after that. After Exegol, Rey had wondered...but apparently ghosts had busy ghost duties and no time for young Jedi trying to track down abandoned moisture farms to pay respects to her masters. 

While she traveled Ben Solo haunted her dreams (and it was Ben, never Kylo). They got worse, or rather, more frequent on Tatooine. The dreams could be silly (she was racing Chewbacca and BB-8 but tripped at the finishing line and the entire resistance was laughing at her) or serious (Palpatine raised his rotting hands to her face. “My granddaughter is finally home.” He hissed with that cold smile.) but Ben would always be there in the background, just out of reach.

Rey could yell at him, or try and run to him, but he never moved. Or maybe he couldn’t?

His eyes always had that same look whenever she did try. A look of pain and sadness and something else she couldn’t describe.

There was one particularly memorable dream, she was in the sinking pits of Jakku and he was standing so close to the edge. 

She kept yelling out to him, her voice was hoarse with it, but he didn’t move. Couldn’t, she told herself. His hand trembled like he wanted to and she swore there were tears coming out of his eyes but she couldn’t tell for sure and she kept yelling his name over and over. 

Once she found Luke’s childhood home, she buried the sabers there. It was the only place she could think of to lay them to rest, and the way the ghosts smiled at her gave her comfort that she made the right choice. 

Her last thought as she took off in her X Wing (Luke’s technically, but after six months she was starting to feel some sort of ownership over it) she made a wish to the Force that she’d never have to go to a desert planet ever again.

Piloting was becoming a comfort to her. It was easy to coast on instinct and let your mind wander while you floated through the great expanse of space. There was something soothing in watching the rush of stars as she jetted through light speed. There was a certain calm in knowing what buttons to press when, in trusting herself to make the right decisions, the whir of the engine her only companion.

When she was alone in that cockpit though, that’s when Rey’s thoughts seemed to always return to Ben.

Ben and Kylo both were never far from her thoughts, granted. But the habit of reaching out to him through the force, the comforting feeling of a tug at the other end of the string, having that gone, hurt like a gaping wound in her side. 

It had taken her a long time to cry after his death. When it first happened, even though she watched him fade into the force, she couldn’t believe he was really gone. To have someone who wasn’t just a love, but was her other half by some predestined blessing, die, felt like a cosmic joke and not something real that happened to her.

In the downtime of flying, it was harder than normal to stop reaching out through their connection. As soon as she’d catch herself doing it, there would be a flood of grief and of regret all tinged with a bit of self loathing she couldn’t quite untangle. 

If she dwelled too much on the memories and feeling of him, the grief and regret and longing and loneliness would get too much to bear. 

Besides she was flying to meet up with her friends finally, and she hadn’t, or maybe couldn’t, tell them about Ben. 

What was she supposed to say? Hello I know he was your tormentor of many years and the supreme leader and figurehead of the first order, but see I love him and he gave his life for mine so obviously he’s a good guy now and worth you crying over. 

The thought of saying that to them made her laugh. The sound of it rang hollow in her cockpit.

Rey had received a transmission not long after leaving the resistance, coordinates to place on Coruscant and a short message saying there was a compound for the former resistance members there and that if and when she wanted to come back, that’s where she could meet them. 

There were many long nights when Rey would play that message over and over, listening to her friends voices and the sound of the rain. 

Now she was finally heading back to them. Her heart was racing and she couldn’t stop smiling.

It was mid-afternoon when she crested over Coruscant. The sun’s reflection glittered across the many buildings and the sight of it took Rey’s breath away and even though she knew she had to land the X Wing, she couldn’t help but stare. 

The city didn’t stop going. 

Somehow, she pulled herself together enough to follow her coordinates to a large landing bay on top of a glittering silver building, to what she knew must be the resistance base.

As she pulled her craft to land, the thought occurred to her that maybe she’d have to wander inside the base and actually find her friends and then everyone would know she was there and it would be chaos. That was the last thing she wanted, and she wondered for a second as she exited what her plan of action would be, and then she was being tackled with a hug.

“Rey!” A voice yelled into her ear. She turned to face the owner and saw Finn beaming at her. A wave of love for him almost overwhelmed her as she hugged him back and they were both laughing and maybe crying too.

“What am I then?” Another voice asked and she turned and it was Poe, grinning like a madman and they were all hugging and laughing and Rey forgot every reason why she had left her friends.

“Where’ve you been, stranger?” Poe said, grabbing her shoulder with a fond smile.

“Oh you know, traversing the galaxy on important Jedi business.” Rey responded with a grin. “What’s all this?” She gestured at the base.

“Our reward for saving the galaxy.” Said Finn, still grinning. “Our base for all future saving the galaxy activities-”

“Courtesy of the new senate.” Said another voice approaching from inside the hangar. Rey turned and there was Rose Tico, smiling at her. Lieutenant Connix stood with her smiling as well.

“They gave a whole base to you guys?” Rey said in amazement as they pulled her into the building.

“Well,” Connix said as they wandered through the hangar and past the ships. “We’re still running missions regularly, so it only made sense to still have some sort of base. And with some of our members in politics now, Coruscant seemed like the best option.”

As they twisted through the long hallways of the base, Rey couldn’t help but be amazed. There were large windows overlooking the city, people in official looking uniforms marching purposefully, droids whirring away on important missions. The whole operation seemed to run like clockwork, with people stopping to stare in amazement at her.

“I know you just got here,” Rose said as they turned down another hall, “but would you like some dinner?”

“There’s this great bar,” Poe said wistfully. “Val’s, just seedy enough for a rough and tumble resistance crew.”

“I’d like that.” Rey said with a smile. “But, uh, maybe I could go wash off first.”

“I can show you to a room you can stay in while you’re here.” Connix said cheerfully, leading Rey off into an area of the base that must’ve been a dormitory.

The room Connix showed her was small, but there was a private ‘fresher and Connix found her a fresh change of clothes.

Rey couldn’t strip out of her own and jump into the shower fast enough. The warm water traveled over her skin, taking away with it the feeling of dry desert sand and the loneliness of the open space. She even got to wash her hair properly, a true and rare luxury.

Her friends were happy to see her, and logically that shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was, she thought as she wiped herself dry with her towel. It was easy when you were alone for that long to get stuck on the idea that you were alone and you always would be. But that wasn’t the case was it? 

Except.

She paused, staring at her reflection in the fogged up mirror. 

Would it all crumble away if they knew about Ben?

Not even that he saved her, that they were connected in a way she couldn’t even quite describe.

What had he called her and him? A dyad in the force?

She couldn’t keep thinking about this, her stomach was rumbling and her friends were waiting.  


Poe was right. The bar was just seedy enough for former pilots, fighters, mechanics, and one lone Jedi. It was much lower down into the city than the base, with a sign on the door that said “No Blasters Allowed On Premises” with a large burnt blaster hole on the corner. The whole interior was filled with low tables and high back chairs, the dusty chandeliers giving everything a hazy orange glow. The bartender, a creature with seven arms that seemed to always be moving, and seemed to know her friends and greeted them all in a language she didn’t understand. They took a table in the corner, directly under one of the chandeliers, and began eating various fried foods and nursing their beverages of choice.

“So the base was a thank you for saving the galaxy then.” Rey said, dipping one of the fried things Finn ordered her, some sort of spicy pepper, into a sweet creamy sauce.

“More or less.” Connix nodded. “Plus, like I said some of us are working in politics now.”

“And by some of us.” Finn said with a grin. “We mean Rose.”

“Really?” Rey looked at Rose in awe, who smiled back somewhat sheepishly.

“Yes, I’m one of the representatives of the Resistance in the Senate.”

“Don’t be so humble, Rose.” Poe said, toasting her with his ale. “You’re already making waves according to everyone I’ve talked to.”

“We all do what we can, you know.” Rose said. “You two,” she gestured to Finn and Poe. “Have been doing a lot too.”

“What have you two been up to then?” Rey asked, sipping at her drink. There was a warmth filling her belly now, giving everything a rosy hue.

“Well, I’ve been helping Jannah and her squadron find more former stormtroopers.” Finn spoke as he grabbed a handful of the fried peppers. “But someone,” a teasing glance there at Poe, who grinned back in that certain way of his. “Keeps distracting me.”

Poe chuckled, clapping Finn on his back. “Unfortunately I need my co general so often, he isn’t much of a service to the cause.” He seemed to realize that Rey might not know exactly what the cause was, so he leaned towards her, his elbow propped up on the table. “The Sith have been popping up all over the galaxy, and I’m one of the ones who goes out and finds them.”

“And I help with tracking and collecting information here at the base.” Connix piped up. “Someone has to keep track of you fools.” She grinned, reaching behind Rose to tossel Poe’s hair.

“We’re going on a mission tomorrow actually.” Finn said, focused more so on Poe flicking food at Connix in retaliation. The two of them were both near hysterics, their laughter getting dirty looks as Rose tried futility to get out of the way of them.

“I know you just got back-” Rose said, nearly missing one of the fried peppers landing in her hair. 

“You said that already.” Rey replied, smiling back at her.

“Sorry.” Rose said, still grinning, but now trying to shove at Connix and Poe. “Cut it out you two, they’re going to kick us out cause you’re behaving like children.”

Finn rolled his eyes in that fond way friends do sometime. “What I think Rose was trying to tell you was we’re going to go to Naboo tomorrow. Poe and I are tracking some Sith, and Rose here-”

“Has a very important political mission!” Rose squeaked out, shoving at Connix to get her to stop. Connix for her part, was busy sticking her tongue out at Poe, who was joyfully flipping her off.

“You’re taking the Sith on by yourself?” Rey said, half in amazement, half in concern.

“No, no.” Connix said with a laugh, flipping off Poe now while also pretending to ignore him. “They’d get obliterated if they even thought about that.”

“What? I could take them!” Poe said, slapping his chest for emphasis. 

“In your dreams, flyboy.” Connix said with a sort of fond disdain that made Finn belly laugh into the remnants of his ale. “As I was saying, on their part it’s just a reconnaissance mission. Gathering some info on their whereabouts, seeing how many of them there are, that sort of thing. Rose here…” She elbowed Rose at that.

“I’m to have an audience with the Queen of Naboo, Antoraba,” Rose said with an official shoulder wiggle. “They were isolationist for the past ten years, and I’ve been tasked to warm them up to the idea of joining the senate again.”

“It’s a big deal for such a new senator to have such an important mission.” Connix said, squeezing Rose’s hand as she spoke. There was a warmth in her gaze as she looked at her that made Rey’s heart pang in a way she couldn’t quite describe. 

There was something about the casual intimacy of it, of all of them interacting together in the corner of the seedy bar that made her heart soar and ache all at once.

Best not to dwell on it too much.

“All that to say,” Connix said, tearing her eyes from Rose. “I think they want you to come with them tomorrow.”

“Only if you don’t mind!” Rose said, waving her hands frantically. “We don’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Could be a great time to practice those fancy Jedi skills.” Poe said, leaning back into his chair and folding his arms behind his head. “I assume that’s what you were doing while you were gone.”

Rey shrugged a little, trying to look nonchalant. “Well that’s about right. I mean, I did make my own lightsaber.”

“Really?” Finn said, leaning in, his eyes wide. “Can we see it?”

“I’m not pulling out my lightsaber in the middle of a crowded bar.” She said indignantly. “But I would like to go with you guys, you could use a Jedi.”

“You think we can’t handle ourselves.” Poe said, straightening up in his chair in an attempt to look intimidating. Connix rolled her eyes pointedly, which broke Rose out into giggles again.

“No of course not.” Rey said in an over-exaggerated soothing tone, reaching out to pat one of his arms. “But perhaps,” She raised her eyebrows. “You could use some extra support.”

“What my co general is trying to say,” Finn said in a somewhat mocking tone, patting Poe’s shoulder mock reassuringly. “Is we’d love to have you, Rey.”

They headed back to the base after that, just drunk enough that everything was funny and soaked in a golden glow. The sun had set long ago, and though you couldn’t see the stars, the lights from the buildings and the whirring transports gave the city it’s own beautiful glow.

Rose and Connix were walking, their arms entangled and Connix’s head tucked on Rose’s shoulder.

“What’s going on with them?” Rey asked Finn, gesturing to the two ahead of them. Finn’s eyebrows raised conspiratorially.

“They aren’t putting a label on it or anything-” Finn spoke.

“Trust me I’ve asked.” Poe quipped, swinging his arm around Poe’s shoulder as they walked.

“But they’ve been acting like that for a month or so. People are placing bets now on how long before it’s official.”

“Or how long until someone walks in on them making out in the control room.” Poe added, laughing at his own joke.

Rey watched them as they walked. There was something natural about the way they moved together, a familiarity there that seemed to come so easily to the two of them. Connix moved her head slightly to say something into Rose’s ear, and then they were both laughing and it sounded like music in the chill of the night. It made Rey wish she had some sort of coat to wrap herself up in, or maybe that he, Ben, was there with her so they could walk like that.

They made it back to the base, solidly in one piece. Rey’s room felt colder and the city light through her window less friendly now that she was alone. Still, there was a set of freshly washed sleepwear waiting for her, and a bed with the softest blankets she’d ever tried. But there was still that pesky feeling of loneliness and the ache in her heart as she almost reached out into the force again.

She had to stop doing that, was the last thought she had before she fell asleep.

Rey’s dreams were never, well, good but this one was one of the worse ones. 

She was flying over Ahch-To. The sun was just setting, making the sky shades of violet and magenta. The whole scene was eerily silent, no calls of the animals preparing themselves for bed, no waves lapping at the shores, no sea breezes.

Her ears caught on one sound and her heart lurched as the dream carried her towards it.

She knew that sound, and as much as she needed to see, to confirm what her heart was telling her, it made her blood run cold.

As she approached the edge of the island, she saw him. 

Ben was desperately trying to crawl out of the pit, the pit that led to the cave, to darkness, except now she had a feeling there was something else he was escaping from. His hair was plastered to his face with sweat, his eyes were desperate and searching, his fingers scratched and coated with blood as he tried to find purchase. Just as it seemed he might actually get enough leverage to pull himself out, a wave crested over the cliff side, sending him back down.

“Ben!” Rey was screaming his name and then she was running toward the pit, her feet slipping on the slick stone. She threw herself onto the edge, reaching out with her hand, hoping he was not too far gone to reach her, hoping, hoping, hoping and then-

“Rey!” He shouted back at her. And yes his voice was mangled and desperate but it was his and he was climbing up, so close to her she could almost-

The ocean was stirring, and Rey knew without knowing they had one chance to get him out of there, and she’d be damned if she didn’t but-

She could hear his feet kicking, trying to find purchase against the walls. His breaths came in rapid bursts, but they sounded like music to her because every breath meant he was alive and fighting and he seemed so-

The wave was coming, they both could hear it. Rey tried to wiggle herself closer and deeper, knew she could get pulled in herself if she wasn’t careful, but that thought seemed so far away and just as the wave was beginning to crest-

His hand found hers and just that alone, without seeing his face, made hot stinging tears form in her eyes. She pulled and pulled and-

Finally, she pulled him out of the pit, the force of it making her fall onto her back, Ben landing beside her. The wave splashed over both of them, still holding each other’s hand tightly. She wasn’t convinced if she let go he wouldn’t be pushed back into the darkness and, more importantly, away from her.

“Thank you.” His voice, Ben Solo’s voice, was such a fragile thing. But it was solid and true, and his hazel eyes looked at her with such warmth Rey felt she might burst with the joy of looking into them again.

And then she woke up.

Some transport was honking their horn too loudly outside Rey’s window. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed and didn’t move from her comfortable position under her blanket, she’d drift back off and dream again of those eyes.

Something was unsettling her however. There was a shift in the force rippling over her skin, urging her to wake up, look. So she did, sitting up and turning to see a figure, dark and standing over her bedposts.

On instinct, she extended her hand, her lightsaber flying into it as she jumped into a fighting position on her bed. It wasn’t until the yellow light from her saber lit and reflected the planes of his face she saw and realized.

“Rey.” Ben Solo said, his voice fragile and soft.

He was alive and solid and so real standing in front of her, it took her breath away.

Rey tossed her lightsaber aside and ran towards him, almost tripping over herself in her haste to reach him, to touch him

Ben smiled at her, a real actual smile as she finally got his face in her hands and he was real and everything was a rush of emotions as her fingers skimmed his face. He looked like he did in her dream, brow slick with sweat, hair matted down, fingers bloodied, but none of that, nor the how or why mattered because he was smiling at her and whispering her name like a prayer.

And then the door opened. Rey turned just in time to see Rose Tico screaming at Kylo Ren, back from the dead.

**Author's Note:**

> Lyrics from description are from Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer, and the chapter title is taken from her song State of Grace.  
> Leave Kudos and/or a comment if you're so inclined, and follow my star wars tumblr, amidallla.tumblr.com to yell with me about Reylo or the Royal Handmaidens of Naboo.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


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